Family
by paynesgrey
Summary: When Hilde has nightmares, Duo comforts her. Post-canon anime TV series. One-shot.


AN: Post-TV series canon. Written for the "grief" square for hc_bingo. This was an old, old story that I scrapped a long time ago and then I recently rewrote it. One-shot.

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Family

_After the White Fang's defeat..._

"I hope you don't mind if I crash here, Hilde," Duo said, throwing his duffle bag on her couch.

She shook her head and smiled, "No, as long as you help me with things around the house, you can stay," she said, pointing to her healing wounds. "I'm going to be needing a little help anyway."

"Yeah," he looked at her sympathetically and then narrowed his eyes at her. "I'm still mad at you for that. I wanted to go off fighting thinking you were out of harm's way, then you pull a stunt like that."

She shrugged and grinned. "I know."

She started to walk away. Duo looked at her confused. "What are you doing now, Hilde?"

"I'm going to bed. I'm tired, and I need some medicine," she groaned sleepily, letting out a big yawn.

"Great! I'll go too!" he proceeded to follow her, but she gave him a stern look. She pointed to the couch. He sulked in understanding. She smiled in success and shut her bedroom door.

Duo turned on the T.V. and kept the volume down low enough to not wake Hilde. He started to watch some seriously tasteless midnight talk show and began to doze off. He realized his sleepiness and turned off the T.V. His eyes began to slowly close. His mind began to embrace the beautiful silence of Hilde's house. His body was familiar with her couch, and he warmed at the nostalgia.

As he was beginning to drift off to sleep, he heard some whimpering. He woke groggily, making a motion to shut off the T.V. He soon realized that the T.V. was off already, and the whimpering was coming from Hilde's bedroom. He rose from the couch and suddenly became alert. He walked to her bedroom door. The whimpering had ceased. He waited a minute, and after confirming the silence, he started tiptoeing back to the couch. He was about to resettle, but then he heard a scream.

"Bitte, Kathe, nein!" Over and over again, he only heard this phrase. She kept screaming in German, and it began to sting his heart. He couldn't bear it anymore. He cracked open her bedroom door. She was curled in a ball and her skin was drenched with sweat. The blankets contorted in a frenzy and snaked around her tiny body. Her head was shaking back and forth as she repeated the phrase and then murmuring some other German he couldn't decipher.

He kept hearing her call out one name, "Kathe."

Duo placed his hand on her shoulder. She didn't wake up.

"Hilde..." he said softly. There was no response. "Hilde...Hilde!"

She stopped suddenly. Her eyes opened widely. She breathed heavily.

She said, "Duo?" She wrapped the sheets around her tightly.

"Hilde, what's wrong? Was it a bad dream?"

"None of your business,"she said and turned away. "Go to bed."

"Hilde! Don't you dare be like this." Anger and worry painted his face, and she turned to him as he spoke. "You were screaming. I can't sleep when you're screaming. It's tearing me up out there not being able to do anything."

She looked at him with awe at his care for her. She looked down at her hands sadly. Tears formed from her hurt eyes. Duo sat next to her, his hand not moving from her shoulder.

"It's a dream I've always had, but it was never like this," she sobbed. She proceeded to tell him the story behind her dream.

"When I was a little girl with my papa, we used to go to mass every Sunday. I used to love it, and whatever excuse I could have to get Papa away from politics was enough for me. I also went there because I got to play with my friend Kathe. A lot of Germans went to St. Theresa's Church of Worship on Sunday for mass, but there weren't many children.

"It was fun being with Kathe. She was my only friend. We used to play with dolls and poke fun at the people who slept during the service. We never saw each other that much outside of church because we went to different grade schools. It was great until..."

Duo saw her eyes began to cloud. "The one day Papa couldn't go to mass because of business was the worst day I shall never forget. The Alliance hadn't targeted St. Theresa's, but the law firm next to the church was harboring rebels. Their firepower was so intense that some of the stray missiles had destroyed the church, while mass was in session. Kathe was there, all alone waiting for me to play with her. She died. My only friend. I saw her doll in the rubble on T.V. I cried so much. My friend, the people I went to church with and loved, were dead, and they died singing to God." She stopped and sobbed.

Duo watched her cry into her blankets. She was barely dressed, he noticed. She only wore a loose tank top and shorts. He was embarrassed a little, but he comforted her anyway, taking her into his arms and holding her as she cried. He laid her down on her pillow, but she wouldn't let go of him. He smiled as he settled next to her, and she whimpered in his arms until they both fell asleep.

The morning sunlight warmed their faces. Hilde stirred, and Duo woke up with her. He saw Hilde's face a few centimeters from his. He blushed and moved away from her a little realizing his hands on her. Hilde woke, staring into his eyes. She blinked in awe. She saw her arms around his waist and her hands on his bare back. She also flushed. Both of them lunged back from each other and yelped.

"Wha...wha...what happened?" she asked, covering herself even though she had her pajamas on. Duo waved his hands at her innocently.

"Now, Hilde, I didn't try anything if that's what you're thinking. I just came in to see if you were all right after your nightmare," he stuttered.

She still stared at him intensely. "Oh yeah, now I remember." She was silent for a moment and so was Duo. She reddened. "Um...do you think we did anything afterwards?"

Duo grinned nervously. Then his grin turned confident. "If we did, you would have surely remembered the best performance of your life." He crossed his arms proudly and smiled. "So therefore..."

Suddenly, a pillow slammed into his face. He heard Hilde laugh. "Yeah right, Duo."

He rubbed his nose. He felt a little wounded emotionally, but he wanted revenge. "Okay, missy, that's gonna cost ya."

He picked up another pillow and chucked it at her. She ran, starting to run past him giggling. She tried to pick up another pillow, but Duo caught her. He restrained her in his embrace as she squirmed, giggled, and batted at him.

"Duo! Stop! Let me go! Ha ha! Duo!" She laughed and cried.

"Now, for your punishment, Hilde Schbeiker!" She stood still and challenged him.

"Whatta ya gonna do, Duo Maxwell, sick your Gundam on me?" She put her hands on her hips waiting for his punishment. He walked up closer to her. There was a surge of anticipation in her body. She thought he was going to kiss her or...better…

Duo watched her intently. His eyes narrowed to match his jovial grin. He held out his arms, and she thought he was going to grab her into an embrace like one of those romance movies. Then finally, he lunged. "I'm going to tickle you!"

Hilde giggled and contorted her body, trying to free herself from Duo's playful touches. She tripped on a pillow and fell on her butt as Duo followed her to the floor. He straddled her still tickling her, and she couldn't free herself from his weight.

"Stop! Duo! Ha ha...hee hee...stop...Don't! Oh! Hee hee..."

He stopped and grinned at her widely as if he had won. She managed a soft smile, and her face became content and relaxed. "Duo, thank you for listening to my story last night."

He put his hand on her cheek. He touched it gently and then lifted her chin. "Hilde, you are so much like me. We both lost something important back then."

She smiled and wrinkled her nose playfully. "I'm not like you at all. I have shorter hair than you," she poked him in the stomach playfully. He took her hand and held it in his.

"Well, we know who wears the pants in this family," he said, coming closer to her face.

She smiled slightly. She had a warmth in her eyes he wanted to bask in. "You think we're a family, Duo?"

He stared at her for a moment. Then he smiled. "Of course, who else do you have other than me?"

"No one," she whispered, watching him intently.

"And I don't have anyone else but you," he said, meeting her gaze.

"That makes us..." he said, coming closer and closer to her face. Her eyes began to close. He could hear her heartbeat quicken. Her clothes were more ruffled than before from their rough-housing. Her face read a wanting of love and passion from him.

"...a family," she finished. Her lips were wet on his. Her moisture dampened his chapped lips. Her mouth opened a little and he gently forced it open with his slowly wandering tongue. Her tongue twisted around his in his warm mouth, trying to taste him some more. His hands stroked her short hair quickly and tumbled into her shirt. His hands trembled as they felt the bare curves of her breasts. Her hands traced the muscles of his back.

In a dynamic push, he rolled her over on top of him so he could grasp her into his arms. Their lips did not part once during the move, but they became addicted to each other, exploring and tasting. Duo felt himself getting pretty excited, and he knew this was premature and he didn't want to take advantage of her. It was extremely difficult for him to break from this feeling, but he put a halt to it once they got too hot for each other. Hilde gave him a chaste smile with dazed eyes and rested on his chest. He began to caress her soft bare arm and look away contently. His eyes began to close too, relishing in the moment of him and Hilde side-by-side, closer than they've ever been.

They had plenty of time for making love. After all, they were family.

END


End file.
